UK Canal boat holidays

03-05-2013 : LOST DUCKLINGS RESCUED FROM TAMWORTH CASTLE

Twelve ducklings have been rescued after falling from a wall and getting separated from their mother in Tamworth, Staffordshire.

The little brood fell from the wall behind the Nationwide Building Society in Market Street, Tamworth, and got trapped at the bottom of the castle keep.

Street wardens spent two hours trying to rescue them with a child's fishing net and eventually, none the worse for the ordeal, were reunited with their mother.

Warden James Harrison climbed down into the keep and managed to capture the ducklings and put Street warden Mr Osbourne said We were trying to get the mother duck to follow us down to the river, without much success.

Eventually, we managed to get the ducklings to quack loudly enough to encourage her to fly down on to the top lawn by the wall.

We then released the ducklings from the box and the mother then made her way to the river, closely followed by all 12 ducklings.

The RSPCA gets lots of animals handed to them this time of year that have been found in the wild.

The charity is always really grateful for public support but they are warning that sometimes they do not need to be rescued.

Sometime baby animals such as ducklings have just been left whilst their parents go in search of food.

So if you spot some duckings during your Canal Boat Holiday, which appear to be in trouble, just wait a while and see if you can see their parents close by.

Likewise some baby rabbits being handed into animal centres are not actually in any danger and may not need rescuing.

The RSPCA says members of the public see young rabbits out in the fields by themselves and think that they been abandoned.

The fact is that most are just out playing and wandering around and their mothers are never too far away.

Freedom to choose

The beautiful canals of England and Wales wind their way through a variety of interesting and distinctive locations offering you the chance to stop off and investigate further at a mooring of your choice or to simply continue cruising onto the next destination.